What are people doing to stop deforestation?

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Mother Nature Network holds that individuals and responsible companies are striving to stop deforestation by going paperless, planting trees, recycling, purchasing recycled products and looking for the Forest Stewardship Council certification on the lumber products they buy. However, deforestation is also being fought on a much grander scale by special interest groups, such as Greenpeace.

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Large corporations are also helping stop deforestation by initiating policies that prevent their companies and the companies with which they do business from participating in deforestation or purchasing from companies that do. Additionally, there are laws that prevent countries from importing illegal wood. Acts like the Wilderness Act and the Lacey Act are prime examples of this. International treaties have also been used to stop the destruction, such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

According to Greenpeace USA, the major causes of deforestation can be attributed to logging, mining and building projects, such as those performed to create roads and dams. However, the leading cause of deforestation is agriculture. This is because large areas of forest are often cleared out to make room for crops or herds of livestock. Much of the world's logging is done illegally and in areas where logging is banned, making the act of deforestation criminal in many places.